And When We Turn Back
by taee
Summary: Ain and Elesis break things off only to come back to the start.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword

* * *

And When We Turn Back

* * *

Elesis is drinking orange juice on their worn sofa when Ain brings it up.

It's a hot saturday in July, too hot to move. Her thighs are plastered sweatily on the soft leather, and the cicadas outside buzz in tandem with the low hum of the tv, lulling her into a daze beneath the feeble gasps of the air conditioner.

"Let's end this," Ain says abruptly, leaning against the doorway of the living room. He doesn't even look at her, eyes stuck on his phone and fingers flying across the surface.

"Ok," she replies without much thinking. All of that's been done already.

Ain disappears back into his room as she tips the glass against her lips again, finishing the last of the lukewarm juice.

Before she falls asleep, she wonders why they'd let it drag out for so long when it was clear that their relationship was way past its time.

(Later, when she blinks awake blearily and finds that there's a pillow tucked under her head and a light blanket guarding her from the slight chill of the evening, Elesis imagines that this is exactly why.)

* * *

No one could've predicted that they'd end up like this.

If she remembers correctly, there were bets running about how long they'd last, the longest being a year.

Well here they were, five years later and four overdue, giving each other awkward, obligatory hugs at the airport.

"Thanks." Ain clears his throat, opens his mouth, thinks better of it and closes it again.

Elesis smiles stiffly, waving as the airport attendants call him up for boarding. He holds out his passport and his ticket and disappears into the tunnel.

A lady by the window stands up to leave, and Elesis takes her seat. The patchy clouds in the morning had cleared up, leaving behind a few blurry white streaks. Workers are loading the luggage into the plane's stomach by a moving belt. One of the suitcases is dark green, possibly with a turquoise tag on it and she wonders if it's Ain's.

Elesis doesn't know how long she stays there, counting the planes that take off, but as she's about to leave, Ain's plane rumbles to life. He's probably already settled in first class, sound asleep. Or he could be awake and gazing out the window and imagining that she's looking back at him, though that's probably nothing more than her own wishful thinking. One sided looking has always been lonely.

It could've been both of them on that plane.

Elesis could be sitting beside Ain right now, with their hands laced together just because they were a couple and they wanted to. It could've been them flying out on vacation to Okinawa, to Cairo, to Santorini. Anywhere. She could be hearing the thundering of the engines, feeling the tug of defying gravity in her feet and the pops of her ears during takeoff, but she is here instead, with her forehead pressed to tinted glass, feet planted firmly on the patterned carpet, scrutinizing her ex's plane.

It's sad, Elesis thinks, walking away while dodging a few latecomers. She and Ain had had something, and to watch it rise into the air and dissipate with the exhaust fumes of a plane leaves a bitter taste in her mouth.

But at least there is a taste.

She much rather take that than have nothing left at all.

* * *

END.1

* * *

A/N: ...not another one

I'm actually working on two little side projects instead of my "main" fics right now. Meaning not little at all. Sorry!

Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

X

Like many people in her life, Elesis meets Ain through Elsword.

Then one thing leads to another, and another, and a few other things, until one day Elsword walks in on them, and that's when she and Ain give themselves a label.

"Uh," her brother says intelligently, covering his eyes with his free hand. "I did not expect to see that. And I wish I didn't."

Elesis' facial expression doesn't change at Elsword's sudden entry, and neither does Ain's, but she can see his ears turn slightly red. It's cute.

She would've told him that if he didn't escape so fast.

"I'll just be going now," Ain says, the door to the siblings' apartment already half open. Elesis is pretty sure he's put his shoes on the wrong feet, and that he's not wearing anything under his coat.

After the man leaves, Elsword picks up a white button up, Ain's, from the coffee table with two fingers and tosses it at her. "So you two are a thing now?"

"I guess we are?" A blunt corner digs into her spine. She digs it out, and to no one's surprise, it's another of Ain's belongings. His phone.

Elsword's voice sounds faintly from the kitchen, muffled by the red walls and the water rushing from the sink. "You guys looked about married already."

Elesis scoffs. "Sure." She doesn't believe it, since it is coming from her brother who also thinks that he hates Aisha's guts (very untrue, everyone they know can attest to that), but honestly, being domestic with Ain feels like a good thing to look forward to.

The next day, she corners Ain towards the end of his lunch break, wearing his abandoned top, and maybe over aggressively shoves a flower into his hand. It has a tag on it with the words "from your new gf, Elesis" written with a mediocre attempt at legibility. Ain stares, stoic, at the overpriced pastries behind her as he wordlessly displays his contacts list, which already has her name saved with a minuscule heart beside it.

His ears are red again, possibly redder than her hair, even, and Elesis is a soft, happy person who appreciates these small things, so she says it to his face this time.

"You're cute," she remarks, and grins sharply when his eyes snap over. There's a visible internal struggle displayed on his face between denial, shock, and embarrassment, until Ain settles on his usual neutral.

"...Hm. If you say so."

Elesis points to the clock; his break is nearly over. "I do say so."

And the rest, as they say, is history.

(They take the road more traveled, the non-fairytale route. They break up.)

X

A/N: Can't find my liness


End file.
